12.21. Deleting Related Rows in Multiple Tables

12.21.1. Problem

You want to delete related records from multiple tables. This is common, for example, when you have tables that are related in master-detail or parent-child fashion; deleting a parent record typically requires all the associated child records to be deleted as well.

12.21.2. Solution

You have several options. MySQL 4.0 supports cascaded delete with a multiple-table DELETE syntax; you can replace the table with new versions that contain only the records not to be deleted; you can write a program to construct appropriate DELETE statements for each table, or you may be able to use mysql to do so.